Shoreditch · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Addiction counselling and rehab advice for Shoreditch
If rehab in Shoreditch is what you typed, whether the drinking or using is yours or a partner's, the free route in Hackney is the City and Hackney Recovery Service, which assesses and can arrange detox or residential care. I offer private addiction counselling beside it, before, during or after treatment, and relatives can book with me too. Hove is 103 minutes' drive away, so we meet by secure video.
The practical facts for Shoreditch
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Shoreditch by car
- About 103 minutes with clear roads (72.5 miles); longer at busy times.
- Free local drug & alcohol service
- City and Hackney Recovery Service, 0345 144 0050
- Fees
- £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90, £120 for 120. The first 15-minute call is free.
- Registration
- BACP registered member, no. 109340 (check the register); UKCP student member in advanced psychotherapy training.
Curtain Road nights and the mornings after
Shoreditch is built for going out. Curtain Road and Old Street are known for clubs and pubs that rival the West End, and the startups around Silicon Roundabout keep long hours that often end at a bar. For plenty of people that is simply the neighbourhood. For some, the drink, the cocaine or the after-party slowly turns into the only way the week holds together, and the comedown is faced alone: in Hoxton East and Shoreditch ward, 36.2% of households are one person living alone, a higher share than across Hackney or England. For alcohol-specific conditions, Hackney's hospital admission rate in 2023/24 was 733.1 per 100,000, above England's 611.7. That describes a borough, not you. Treatment is close by too: Spitalfields Crypt Trust works from Shoreditch High Street, and Mildmay Hospital is close by in Bethnal Green.
Where counselling fits around Hackney's treatment routes
The City and Hackney Recovery Service, led by Turning Point with Mind CHWF and London Friend, is the door to treatment, on 0345 144 0050. It assesses what you are using and how much, then agrees with you what comes next, whether that is help in the community, a medically supervised detox or time in residential treatment. Mildmay Hospital, just off Hackney Road, offers inpatient alcohol and opiate detox through the CGL London Inpatient Detoxification and Stabilisation Portal. Counselling with me runs alongside that. We meet weekly, one to one, and you do not have to have stopped first. Together we explore what the drink or drugs give you: the flatness after a big launch, the loneliness once the club shuts, the older pain a third drink seems to quieten. Then we look at what you would like your weeks to hold instead. Once a detox at Mildmay or a residential stay is over, our hour keeps going as you piece together ordinary weeks between Hoxton Square and Kingsland Road. Partners, parents and friends can book sessions of their own. I bring more than 25 years in this field and my own lived recovery, so you can arrive exactly as you are.
Recovery help close to Shoreditch High Street
Hackney's free assessment
Turning Point leads the City and Hackney Recovery Service, which looks at your drinking or drug use with you and sets up community help, detox or residential treatment where needed.
Acorn House residential recovery
Spitalfields Crypt Trust runs Acorn House, a 16-bed abstinence-based recovery hostel for homeless men with counselling built in, and it accepts self-referrals.
Choices, for later recovery
SCT's peer-led Choices community focuses on relapse prevention and holds a Friday social group, somewhere to meet others further along in recovery.
Families and friends count too
Turning Point's Hackney service supports family and friends in their own right, and a partner or parent can also have weekly video sessions with me.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free drug and alcohol support for Shoreditch
Private counselling can sit beside Hackney's free addiction routes. Turning Point's City and Hackney Recovery Service assesses Shoreditch residents and refers on for detox or residential care, and relatives can use its family and friends support too. Spitalfields Crypt Trust runs Acorn House and the Choices recovery community, and Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest offers wider support for the person using and the people around them.
- Free drug and alcohol serviceCity and Hackney Recovery Service0345 144 0050Free and confidential.
- Local organisationCity & Hackney Carers Centre
FRANK (on 0300 123 6600) and Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 are free and confidential, and Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery run peer-support meetings you can find online. For gambling, the National Gambling Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 8020 133 (NHS gambling support).
If raising someone's drinking or drug use with them feels unsafe, or someone at home is hurting, threatening or controlling you, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 2000 247. In immediate danger, call 999.
Detox and residential rehab are arranged through the free local drug and alcohol service named here. It assesses what you need, arranges medically assisted withdrawal where that is safe and needed, and can refer for community or residential treatment. My part is one-to-one counselling before, alongside or after that treatment, to help the changes last.
If you need urgent help now
If you need help right now, please don't wait for a session.
Local drop-in crisis support: City and Hackney Crisis Café (check opening times before you go).
If you, or someone you live with, drink heavily every day, or take drugs such as benzodiazepines or GHB daily, do not stop suddenly without medical advice. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Your GP or the local drug and alcohol service can arrange medically assisted withdrawal. Call 999 or go to A&E if someone in withdrawal is shaking visibly, unusually restless or agitated, confused, seeing or hearing things that are not there, or has a fit. For milder symptoms, such as a slight tremor or sweating, contact your GP or NHS 111 the same day (NHS guidance). Counselling works alongside medical support, not instead of it.
What people in Shoreditch ask before starting
Where do I start if someone in Shoreditch needs rehab?
Start with the City and Hackney Recovery Service on 0345 144 0050. Turning Point leads it for the borough, free of charge, and following an assessment it can set up detox or residential care where that is needed. My counselling can begin before that referral, continue during treatment, or support the months after someone comes home.
Is there help in Hackney for families of someone drinking or using drugs?
Yes. The City and Hackney Recovery Service supports family and friends directly, so the person using does not have to engage first. Separately, a weekly hour with me can centre on you alone, to talk through the worry, the arguments, the money and where your own limits lie. Partners, parents and adult children are all welcome, wherever in Shoreditch, Hoxton or Haggerston they live.
Will video sessions work if I share a flat in Shoreditch?
Yes, and with Hove 103 minutes away by car, video is the usual arrangement. You need somewhere private where nobody can overhear, which can be harder in a shared rented flat, and a parked car or a room booked for the hour can work just as well. Sitting across from each other in Hove now and then, for a longer session, can be set up too.
I work in tech near Old Street and use most weekends. Is that worth talking about?
If the question is on your mind, it is worth bringing. You do not need to call it addiction or have decided to stop. We can look at what the weekends give you, what they take from Monday, and the work pressure around Silicon Roundabout that feeds them. Heavy daily drinkers should plan any stop with a GP or the City and Hackney Recovery Service, since coming off suddenly carries risk.
How much do sessions cost, and is the first call free?
Sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for 120 minutes, the same in person in Hove or by video. The first 15-minute call is free, with no obligation to book. There is no NHS referral needed to see me privately.
A first conversation about drink or drugs, from Shoreditch
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.